


Fireflies

by astralcities



Series: Rewrites [1]
Category: Night In The Woods (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, No Smut, except with an added few scenes & a special twist, hint: it's gay, this is basically a rewrite of the firefly scene from Bea's route, this is my first fic for this fandom so i hope you like it!!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-26
Updated: 2017-03-26
Packaged: 2018-10-11 02:04:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,822
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10452516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/astralcities/pseuds/astralcities
Summary: Life isn't perfect, and Mae knows that. But tonight? Yeah, she'd say tonight comes pretty close.In other words, Mae and Bea watch the fireflies.





	

**Author's Note:**

> If ur not listening to [this](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EXc2d2_TULU) ur missing like half the atmosphere. it's the music from the actual scene!
> 
>  
> 
> Thanks to my beta, @rainbow-flavoured, who wasn't obligated to do this, but still read it at 2 am
> 
>  
> 
> Without further ado, enjoy "Fireflies"!

Mae stepped out onto the creaky porch, throwing her arms into the air. "Well, that was fun!"

Bea, crouched on the step, ever-present cigarette hanging from her mouth, gave a non-committal hum. 

They'd just made a daring escape from the basement of an odd old woman, aided by Bea's expertise in fixing machines, and Mae's experience in smashing the crap out of them. Even though Bea had apparently had to re-fix the furnace before they left, it was still Mae's powers of destruction that saved the day, _thank you very much!_ Geez, and Bea said she was just here to watch.

Mae half-tripped down the steps to plop beside Bea. "She gave us lemonade!" She beamed, raising a near empty plastic cup of over-sugary lemonade. Not that Mae cared, lemonade was lemonade. Unless it was that sugar-substitute stuff. _That_ was unacceptable.

"Yeah."

"You.... Not like lemonade?" Mae needled.

Bea snorted, brushing a frizzy strand of hair behind her ear. "It's faaaaantastic." She drawled.

Mae shot her a concerned look. Bea should be happy! They fixed a furnace, broke a furnace, then fixed it again! And now they had _lemonade_!

"So what's up?"

Bea turned away, angling her face to the moon. "Nothing. Just... Tired." She sighed, "Worked all day."

"Hey!" Mae exclaimed indignantly. "I worked too!"

"You tied a gnome to a plastic fan and spun it around. I don't typically consider that _work_." 

"Ex-cuuuse me, it was an elegant long-term solution and it would've worked!" Mae laughed, watching Bea's expression for any reaction.

Bea's mouth turned up at the corner, a half-smile settling on her face. "Whatever you need to tell yourself at night."

Mae scooted into a more comfortable position, setting down her now empty glass, and hugging her knees to her chest.

From this point of view, everything seemed ethereal. She and Bea sat in silence on Mrs. Miranda's front porch, the moon illuminating her front yard, the only sound a few crickets chirping in the tall grass. She was almost afraid to talk, worried that it might break the peaceful spell hovering over them. Mae found herself studying Bea. Her dark skin, sharp eyeliner, and frizzy curls hastily pulled back into three knobs. The lilt of her mouth when she was happy, her piercing brown eyes, black lipstick, perfectly shaped eyebrows, and her now oil stained and calloused hands.

_Oh my God._ Mae thought.

Out of all her friends, Bea was the most mysterious. After seventh or eight grade- Mae couldn't really remember which anymore- they'd stopped hanging out anymore. It was gradual. No fight, nor argument. Every day, she just saw Bea less and less, until they were more like strangers than best friends. They stopped talking altogether when Bea's mom died. 

But now, Mae was back! And she finally had the chance to make things better. Maybe it'd be okay, coming home so suddenly like this, because they were here together. If they were stuck in Possum Springs, they were stuck with each other. And now, one of those perfect eyebrows was arched questioningly, and Mae could only think of how glad she was to be spending tonight smashing up old furnaces with this girl, and-

"Do I have something on my face?" Bea monotoned, abruptly snatching Mae out of her daydreaming.

"Huh? I-uh, uhhhh, wha?" Mae stammered.

"My face. You were staring, so I could only assume you'd finally lost it, or something dripped on me. I guess it was the former."

Mae's skin tingled with embarrassment, her veins still coursing with adrenaline and excitement from the furnace escapade. She stood up abruptly, the porch step creaking under her sudden shift. 

"I'm all hyper." She said, tapping her fingers erratically on her arm.

"Good for you." 

Mae huffed, throwing her head back. "Ugh, you are _zero _fun."__

____

Bea nodded with certainty. "Yup."

____

Mae waved her hands in front of her excitedly, "You need some, some magical shit, to like give you a new perspective."

____

"Ah. Let me know when that happens. Wouldn't want to miss it." Bea took another puff of her cigarette, staring off at something in the distance. Mae looked at her. How could someone sit still and just _think_ for that long? Not Mae. She couldn't remain in the same place for more than 5 minutes at a time. Unless it was thinking about Bea. Mae thought she could probably stretch that out for a while longer. 

____

Mrs. Miranda really was weird. It didn't look like she ever cut the grass, and her lawn was covered in all sorts of weird shit, from garden gnomes to the giant-ass windmill near the driveway. Whatever- it was still a pretty cool house anyway. The whole yard was tinged with blue, and the cold moonlight made everything look silvery, like something from a dream. Mae decided she liked it.

____

Mae stepped off the porch. "I'll be back in a minute, I'm gonna go climb the windmill!"

____

Bea sighed. "Please try not to break that too."

____

"No promises," Mae grinned, and then trotted down the yard. 

____

The long, dry grass brushed up against her jeans, and found its way to her ankles, tickling her. It was kinda uncomfortable, but she bet it looked awesome. The lone hero, standing majestically in her faded orange t-shirt and waving grass, facing the beast that was a great iron windmill that looked rusted to to one position.

____

Out of the corner of her eye, Mae saw a teensy lightening bug glow softly, then flit to her shoulder. 

____

"Ohhhh, hey little guy! You coming with me? Yeah, don't worry, I'll take good care of you."

____

When a second flocked to her she felt special. When a third landed on her forehead, she felt as if her heart was about to explode into tiny shiny pieces. With a solid jump, she landed on the first blade of the windmill, feeling accomplished when it did nothing more than emit a rusty groan beneath her. She hopped from one to another, then to the upper most blade, not noticing that a small gathering of fireflies were now trailing behind her until they all lit up. 

____

"Wow..." Mae breathed, surveying the street from her vantage point, watching as a few lone cars lit up the street as they drove on to more busier sections of town. She reluctantly hopped down, metal creaking beneath her as more and more fireflies began to join her crusade. She walked steadily through the gently blowing grass and navigating the various lawn ornaments, re-arrived at the porch steps with a throng of fireflies.

____

Mae couldn't help but grin, putting on her best, "this was perfectly intentional" face.

____

Bea's jaw dropped, her cigarette nearly falling from her mouth. "Wow."

____

And then, to Mae's delight, she began laughing. Bea shook her head a few times in disbelief, before dissolving into chuckles. It was beautiful. Her eyes lit up brighter than her entire firefly mob, and she just looked so _happy_ that it made Mae excited too.

____

Bea lifted her head again, looking at Mae. "Haha.. Hah. Are you some kind of firefly whisperer or something?"

____

Mae shrugged. "They just like me, I guess."

____

Bea looked at her with something akin to wonder. "That's..." She shook her head. "You're an interesting person, Mae Borowski."

____

Mae nodded sagely, a few fireflies drifting towards the porch light. "Granddad said being interesting is all you can ever hope to be."

____

Mystified, Bea hummed in agreement. "Well, mission accomplished."

____

"Woohoo!"

____

Bea's mouth seemed to be upturned in a permanent smile now, and Mae's heart was speeding into overdrive.

____

Bea smirked. "Y'know. I have to say, this would've been a much less exciting evening if you weren't along for the ride."

____

"See?" Mae offered helpfully. "I'm good to have around."

____

"I mean, you can certainly beat the shit out of a furnace."

____

"I can beat the shit out of _anything_."

____

Now, it was Bea's turn to study her. She took a long drag of her dying cigarette, and murmured, "You should, like, channel that aggression you always have into something useful."

____

Mae shrugged again, but this time her shoulders felt like someone had dropped a rather large weight on them. "Eh, Dr. Hank said way back I needed to repress it."

____

Bea's smile quickly vanished. "'Repress'? Not, like, 'learn to deal with it'?"

____

"Nope. He specifically said, 'repress'."

____

"Uh, okay. Hm." Bea seemed troubled by this, and sensing a shift in tone, Mae sped onto another topic. "My firefly powers aren't for me only, y'know."

____

Bea raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

____

More emboldened now, Mae kept talking. "Yeah, they can be, y'know, transferred."

____

"Is that so?" Bea snorted.

____

"I'm telling the truth! Close your eyes."

____

"That sentence makes me far more inclined to get up and run now."

____

Mae shook her head emphatically. "No, no! Close 'em."

____

Bea huffed, but obediently closed her eyes.

____

"And no peeking!"

____

"Uh-huh. Got it."

____

And with that, Mae leaned forward and planted a kiss directly on Bea's mouth. She pulled back quickly, and rubbed the charcoal colored lipstick off with the back of her hand, her heart beating frantically, and her nerves coursing with excitement. Bea stared at her with wide eyes, a silhouette in the porch light.

____

"See? Now you have them too. We can be masters of the fireflies together."

____

Finding her voice again, Bea shakily muttered, "You are really something else, Mae."

____

Mae clapped her hands loudly, the rest of the fireflies scattering off into the night sky. "So, do you think Mrs. Miranda, like, pulled her husbands guts out? Isn't that what you do with mummies?"

____

"I dunno, Mae."

____

Fueled by elation, Mae pushed forward. "Do you think you'd have the stomach for it?"

____

Bea snorted. "Nope."

____

"It probably took a lot of heart."

____

She was laughing quietly. "Yup."

____

"I wish she would ex-pleen it to us." Mae giggled.

____

"I get it, Mae."

____

Every word was punctuated by giggles now. "She really _rectum_."

____

Bea burst into a fit of laughter. "Okay, now that probably stayed in place."

____

"Yeah," Mae agreed, "that should stay where it be-lungs."

____

Bea stood up, and began walking into the calm blue night. "I'm leaving."

____

"Hey!" Mae crowed out, smile stretched wide, "You gotta liver your life!"

____

"Bye." Bea yelled back, words interrupted by involuntary spouts of laughter, "This is me, gone."

____

"Hey, wait up!" Mae sprinted behind her.

____

"You're walking back to town."

____

"You've got a lot of... haha... _Gall_ to say that!"

____

Bea looked back, and Mae almost stopped dead at how beautiful she was. Her eyes crinkled up at the corners, her hair was wild and rumpled, her dark skin almost glowed silver. She laughed, wiping the corner of her eye. "I'm gonna call the cops."

____

As Mae sped after her friend, a lone firefly trailing behind, she thought about how for the first time since she left for college, she was happy where she was. And for once, so was Bea.

____

**Author's Note:**

> cliché ending? absolutely
> 
> do i care? no
> 
>  
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this, I had fun writing it!
> 
> Reviews and comments are ALWAYS appreciated, and even the shortest ones make my day. Love ya!
> 
> UPDATE AS OF APR. 1: Italics fixed. Also, if you liked this, there's more in a similar vein! You can find my other story, Shattered Glass [here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/10513830)!
> 
> Let me know in the comments what you thought!


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